Mohammad and the Mountain
by Dragonsdaughter
Summary: Naru vs. Japanese High School. Naru 1, High School 0. Chapter Two: Even Naru can make friends his own age. Honestly, he’s as surprised as anyone else.
1. Mohammad and the Mountain

**Mohammad and the Mountain**

By Dragon's Daughter  
Rated G  
Warnings: Naru/Mai, Spoilers for the light novels, and Naru's not so SECRET IDENTITY. Un-betaed.

Summary: Lately Naru's father has gained new appreciation for the High School as a method to socialize adolescents.

000

Mai seethed as her homeroom teacher worked his way through the early morning roll call.

Logically, she knew that Sato-sensei didn't have anything to do with the violation of her last retreat. He'd probably gotten some paperwork just yesterday, shrugged, and rolled with it. How was he supposed to know that by doing so he'd just doubled the stress on his scholarship student?

Fortunately for Mai, or perhaps unfortunately, Sato-sensei was fairly oblivious and so didn't notice that one of his students was trying to figure out a way to kill him before he could finish roll call and announce a new transfer student.

However Mai had already missed her chance. The door slid open just as Sato-sensei droned to a halt to admit a young Japanese man who Mai almost didn't recognize in the school's tan blazer and red tie.

An excited murmur sprang up from the girls and a grudgingly admiring one passed back and forth between the guys who remembered him from when the old school building had collapsed in on itself.

Sato-sensei squinted at the newcomer and smiled as he waved the boy up to the podium. "Good timing, Shibuya-kun. Come up to the front and I'll introduce you."

Naru obeyed while ignoring the sudden increase in classroom noise. Maybe it was Mai's eyes playing a trick on her, but for a second it looked to her as though he'd briefly scanned the room until his gaze came to rest on her. It was ridiculous, of course. Naru's face never moved. Besides, he'd already known which class she was in so why bother to confirm hard data?

"This is Shibuya Kazuya. He's transferring to our school from England. I hope everyone will help him get used to Japan as quickly as possible. Please say a few words to your classmates, Shibuya-kun."

Naru bowed slightly from the waist with his arms properly straight at his sides and Mai suppressed the urge to sigh. 'So he does know how to bow properly and all this time I was cutting him slack for having grown up abroad…'

"My name is Shibuya Kazuya. I look forward to completing the year with everyone. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu*."

Give him credit for at least following the script. Mai had never actually heard Naru use the phrase 'Yoroshiku onegaishimasu' before. He was usually terse in the extreme, but she supposed that even Naru knew better that to alienate the people he was going to be stuck with during the next two trimesters. Maybe his father had been onto something…

"Shibuya-kun please take a seat next to Taniyama." Sato-sensei pointed Mai out with the edge of his grade book. "Taniyama? Share your textbook with Shibuya since he doesn't have one yet. Now everyone will open your books to page 800 and we'll get started with the lesson…"

Naru's poker face was perfect as he sat down next to Mai and scooted his desk over so that she could lay her book down open between them. "Nice to meet you, Taniyama." He said sotto voce and Mai resisted the urge to kick him under the cover of the desk.

"Can it, Naru. Everyone knows I work for you." She hissed and pointedly dropped her gaze to the assigned reading.

Really, there was no point in planning Sato-sensei's death. He was just the principal's dupe in the whole matter and in turn the principal was the helpless dupe of Naru's father, a prominent and well respected professor who felt that his remaining son needed to finally get out of the lab and learn to interact with people his own age –whether he liked it or not.

When Professor Davis laid down the law even his son the eminent prodigy scholar and honorary Doctor Oliver Davis – better known to the Tokyo branch of SPR as Shibuya Kazuya AKA Naru sat up and paid attention.

Mai had been privy to that argument although not intentionally so. The Professor had come to Tokyo in person to make sure his genius son didn't find a way to weasel out of it and she'd been called on to provide a steady stream of tea. Lin and Yasuhara had taken cover by hiding out in the café down the street. Mai had stayed to make sure that no possible clients could wander in and also to make sure that the Father and Son duo didn't kill each other. Neither of them shouted, but at the height of the argument even the normally unflappable Naru was talking in pointy, sharp-edged words.

Evidently, Naru had eventually capitulated but not before dragging some concessions out of his parent. One of those concessions was apparently that if he was going to be forced into the High School system, then at least he'd have his primary flunky readily available … despite being a year older than she was and technically a senior.

It was just as well. Mai was pretty sure she'd choke on it if she was forced to call him 'Senpai'**.

As Sato-sensei settled into a comfortable monotone, Mai noticed more and more glanced being directed towards Naru. Notes were being passed and not an insignificant number of her female classmates were literally tittering behind their hands.

Mai glanced at Naru whose head was bent studiously over the textbook. Only a faint wrinkle between his brows indicated that he was still having trouble with kanji. Otherwise he looked completely oblivious to the havoc he was wreaking on classroom discipline.

Sometimes she forgot just how handsome he was until he caused a stir just by walking into a room and looking bored.

'This is going to be an interesting year…' Mai reflected as she focused her attention back on her schoolwork where it belonged. While she might consider Naru a walking natural disaster, the scholarship committee wouldn't see it that way if she let her grades drop.

Still, Mai wasn't sure who she pitied more. She at least was used to the worst of Naru's antics. She wasn't entirely sure how her school would handle the learning curve.

At least this time no buildings would fall down –hopefully.

-Fin

I've added some annotated translations here to the end. I'm assuming that most people who are familiar with Anime/Manga already understand what I'm referring to, but I always worry about accidentally alienating a new comer when I add in random Japanese phrases and customs without explaining them. I try to expand on it in the story, but we all know that info-dumps make for clunky prose.

* 'Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu' – This is one of those uniquely Japanese statements that has a lot of different meanings so I decided include it in its original form rather than replacing the phrase with a more recognizable western statement. In this context, Naru is saying something that's a combination of 'Nice to meet you', 'I'm in your care/at your mercy', and 'please take care of me'. I've seen the statement translated as all of these so I'm not sure of the lit. meaning.

** 'Senpai' – lit. meaning 'Senior'. Anyone familiar with Anime/Manga is pretty familiar with the basics of the Senpai/Kouhai system. In this context, 'Senpai' is anyone in a higher grade although it can also mean someone who's a little older or who has been in an organization longer. There's some funny traditions associated with this particular system in Japanese High Schools that can even extend to how you wear your uniform. For example, in a certain school only Seniors can wear their gym jersey's all the way unzipped. Second-years can wear the zipper halfway down and Freshmen have to wear it all the way zipped up. There's also a certain amount of respect that a Senpai must be given, especially if it's a First Year to a Third Year. I've read a lot of articles about how the Senpai system can be abusive in some situations, but there's also a sense of protection and guidance that is bound up in the tradition. For example, a very fast way to pick a fight with someone is to pick on one their favored Kouhai. There is a burden on the Senpai to always provide a good example for their Kouhai and to provide guidance when necessary. In turn, those Kouhai go on to protect and guide the people who come after them. Mai is pretty irreverent when it comes to Naru, although I think part of it is that Naru doesn't really encourage formality. Mai is pretty informal for a Japanese girl. I'm pretty sure that any other person would at least blush if he used her proper name without honorifics, which is pretty forward of him considering the fact that they aren't related, close friends, or dating. However, it says something about Mai that she doesn't even really notice it.


	2. Boys Will Be

**Mohammad and the Mountain: Boys Will Be…**

By Dragon's Daughter  
Rated G  
Warnings: Naru/Mai, Spoilers for the light novels, and Naru's not so SECRET IDENTITY. Un-betaed. _Mohammad and the Mountain_ verse.

Summary: Even Naru can make friends his own age. Honestly, he's as surprised as anyone else.

000

Well, Naru had certainly made a splash on his first day.

Mai was grateful when it came time for lunch break and she was able to trot down to her shoe locker in order to break out her lunch box. Naru seemed happy to read a book at his desk and Mai was hesitant to leave him unattended, considering the sidelong glances she'd seen her classmates sending his way. It wasn't that she though he couldn't handle himself, but she didn't necessarily want to see her classmates' ego bruised beyond recovery on day one. Naru wasn't very nice when he felt cornered.

Contrary to Mai's expectations, the girls weren't the first ones to approach Naru. Instead, a couple of guys wandered over to where Naru was sitting. She recognized them: Sasaki and Watanabe were pretty much the class slackers. They were good natured and easy to get along with. Mai hung back in the entry, ready to intervene if need be, but interested to see how Naru would handle himself.

Sasaki slung his lanky body into the chair next to Naru and leaned in. "No lunch, Shibuya?" He held out a hand. "I'm Sasaki. Want to come to the Cafeteria with us?"

Naru closed his book with a soft 'snap' and glanced at Sasaki. "Thank you, but no." To Mai's surprise, Naru's gaze slid across the room and settled on her.

Watanabe followed his look and grinned when he spotted Mai. He laughed and clapped Naru on the shoulder. "You dog! We'll leave you alone."

Mai snorted as Sasaki and Watanabe got up to leave, catching their attention. "I'd go with them if I were you, Naru-chan. I've only got food for one."

The two boys broke out into laughter and Naru favored Mai with a sour look. Sasaki stifled his snickers with his hand and gave Mai the thumbs up. "Aww, you didn't bring anything for your boyfriend, Taniyama?"

"Maybe I would have if he'd told me he was coming." Mai groused. "And he's not my boyfriend. It's his own fault if he starves." Judging by their laughter, neither boy was convinced.

"Ooo, Taniyama is tough." Sasaki nodded at Watanabe. "Don't have too much fun, you two."

Mai watched them go and kicked Naru gently under the desk. "You should have gone with them."

"I don't see why." Naru replied as he opened his book. "And stop kicking me. I sign your paychecks."

"You're the one who's here for a social education." Mai pulled out her chopsticks and went to work on her lunch. "Running off the first people to make an overture isn't the best way to go about it, but what do I know? I'm just your lowly assistant. No opinions worth hearing at all."

Naru gave her a narrow look that made him look a bit like he was considering kicking her. "I promoted you two months ago. You're a full investigator or did you want to go back to an assistant's payscale?"

"No, Shibuya-san!" Mai wrinkled her nose and handed him an onigiri from her lunch. "At least give Sasaki and Watanabe a chance. They're nice."

"Whoops, I guess Taniyama isn't so tough!"

Naru turned just in time to catch the plastic wrapped melon bun that Sasaki had tossed at him. He blinked down at the offering. Watanbe followed it up with a bottle of milk from the bundle of individually packaged breads and juice boxes he was carrying in both arms.

Sasaki sat down next to Mai and put down a box of pocky in front of her. "You like chocolate, right?"

"Thank you." Mai accepted the pocky with a blink. "What's this for?"

"Shibuya's welcome bread party!" Watanabe dumped his burden on Naru's desk. Naru regarded the pile of bread with something akin to bewilderment. "Welcome to class 2-A, Shibuya."

Mai hid her smile behind the pocky as Watanabe pressed a juice box on her shocked employer. She caught Sasaki giving her a subtle thumbs up from under the table and she mouthed a quiet 'thank you' at him from behind her shield.

Sasaki winked and raised his milk bottle in a mock toast.

They weren't the people Mai would have predicted to approach Naru, but it was a great start. Maybe the Professor hadn't been wrong after all…

-Fin


	3. Mean Girls

**Mohammad and the Mountain**: _Mean Girls_

By Dragon's Daughter

Rated G

Warnings: Naru/Mai, Spoilers for the light novels, and Naru's not so SECRET IDENTITY. Un-betaed. Mohammad and the Mountain verse.

Summary: Mai's never had to deal with bullies before, but that doesn't mean she's a pushover.

000

"A moment of your time, Taniyama?"

Mai glanced up from her shoe locker to find that she'd been surrounded by a loose group of girls. They were mostly from her year, but there were also a batch of first years and… _wow_… even seniors.

Oh, _good lord_.

"Sure, but you'll need to make it quick. I need to get to my part time."

The pack leader (Mai tried to remember her name. Maaa… Matsu? Matsu-something. Not Matsuyama. Matsumoto, maybe?) was one of the popular girls, Mai supposed. She was at the very least one of the terminally tanned girls who routinely got in trouble with the Student Guidance officer for wearing too much make-up, nail art, and non-regulation hemlines. What was the name for them? _Ganguro*_? _Kogal**_? Something.

Matsumoto (Matsuo? Matsuda?) flipped a tendril of pale blonde hair over her shoulder with the tip of one long crystal-studded nail. "_That_ is what we'd like to discuss. Come with us." She said wit narrowed eyes.

"Sorry, I don't have time to go anywhere with you." Mai didn't have a lot of patience with drama; even less now than she'd had before taking a job with SPR. Naru's inability to tolerate fools had probably rubbed off on her. "You'll need to say it here."

A muscle jumped in Matsuya's cheek and she didn't quite slam her hand into the lockers next to Mai's head. "Don't get cocky just because Shibuya-kun pays a little attention to you. You're not _special_."

The dots connected in Mai's head just then and she opened her mouth before thinking better of it. "Are you seriously shaking me down over a _boy_? I thought that only happened in comics."

Some of the girls in the group shifted nervously and glanced at one another out of the corners of their eyes. Apparently they hadn't considered their plan of action in that particular light before. One or two broke away and vanished into the stream of students exiting the building.

"We came to tell you to quit your job." Matsushina leaned in and spoke in a dangerous whisper. "School could get _very_ unpleasant for you if you cross us."

"I'm surprised the seniors are risking getting involved in ijime*** this close to graduation." Mai glanced over Matsu's head at the remaining seniors. "Weren't some of you just accepted into College?" More unease at that loaded word '_ijime_' and several faces vanished.

The Ganguro girl (Matsushi_da_, maybe?) didn't seem to notice that her allies were vanishing in a steady stream. Or perhaps she was too focused on her prey. Mai wasn't sure which, either way her tanned cheeks were turning pink as she tried and failed to intimidate her prey.

"Cute, Taniyama. Does that smart mouth work on Shibuya-kun? Or do you use it for something _other_ than talking with him?"

For the first time, Mai felt a twinge of temper. She really _hated_ it when people resorted to sexual innuendo when they'd run out of other things to say. "I suppose _you_ would know more about that sort of thing than me."

Matsuzawa's eye opened wide, she lifted a hand, and slapped Mai in the face just as hard as she count. Mai didn't think, she just reacted and slapped the other girl right back. More girls vanished as the students passing by started to stop and whisper. It was the whispers that got Matsumara's attention and she looked about in surprise, cradling her smarting cheek, as she realized that she had only two nervous-looking second years remaining with at her side.

"The student guidance officer is coming!" Someone called out in the crowd and whatever courage that Matsumura's cronies had left broke. They too vanished leaving their leader alone with Mai. She turned a burning glare on Mai and hissed "This isn't over yet!"

Mai shrugged as the girl turned to go and then called out as something occurred to her. "Hey, what's your name?"

The girl stopped and looked over her shoulder at Mai. "Motoko Senmatsu." She spat and marched off.

"Well, I was completely wrong." Mai mused outloud and went back to changing out her shoes. She was going to be late again, but for once Naru was just going to have to deal with it.

-Fin

* * *

* **Ganguro**: If you watch a lot of anime, you've probably seen a Ganguro girl even if you don't know the term. A Ganguro girl is heavily tanned with bleached hair that can range anywhere from blonde, to orange, to a really pale silver-grey. They also are known for wearing very heavy makeup, using black eyeliner and mascara along with pale concealer for eye shadow and lipstick. Ganguro girls fall under the umbrella of 'Gyaru' (Gals) culture in Japan, which generally refers to childish or rebellious girls. Despite the fact that Ganguro girls tend to get represented as also being Kogals (more on that later) you'll more often find them dressing with a Hawaiian theme that often involves hibiscus flowers, leis, and sarongs in bright almost day-glo color palettes.

** **Kogal**: Ganguro girls and Kogals tend to get mushed together in Anime and Manga. If you see a Ganguro girl represented in a story, then she's usually dressed as a Kogal. This is not without cause. There are plenty of Kogals with dark tans and that signature makeup, but while the two subcultures overlap in some places they're still very different. The term 'Kogal' refers to a particular fashion trend where young women (who aren't necessarily students, but often are) dress like what we westerners tend to think of as Japanese school girls: dyed hair, short pleated skirt, loose socks, sleeveless v-necked sweaters over dress shirts, and loafers. Kogals will often opt for Burberry scarves or have a sweater tied around their waist to look even more casual.

*** **Ijime**: Basically bullying. Ijime is a problem in Japanese Schools where the entire class will pick on a designated victim. Ijime can involve verbal abuse, physical assault, shunning, and occasionally even blackmail. A very good example of Ijime and the impact it can have on the bullies and the bullied is a manga called 'Vitamin' by Suenobu Keiko. A school's response to Ijime can vary wildly. Some school officials will put it down viciously, while others adopt a sort of 'blame the victim' approach and passive-aggressively focus on the student being bullied for not getting along with their fellow classmates. Others will deliberately cover up Ijime so that it won't affect the reputation of his or her class. There's a very good example of this in Fruits Basket, where Kisa Sohma suffers from Ijime and is ostracized by her class because of her hair color. Eventually, she stops speaking and doesn't return to class at all. She receives a letter from her teacher trying to urge her to return that is liberally salted with heavy handed advice such as 'People who do not like themselves cannot be liked by others'. Conversely, should a parent or school official decide to pursue a case of Ijime the consequences are dire for the bullies. Very few colleges will accept a student who has been connected with Ijime. Colleges that were previously pleased to admit them as a student won't be able to disown them fast enough.


End file.
